(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cooler module for cooling an electronic chip and more particularly to a horizontal cooler module, which has the parts tightly fitted to one another with a flat wall portion of the heat pipes thereof exposed to the outside of the base block for direct contact with the heat source for quick dissipation of heat energy from the heat source.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
Heat pipes are intensively used in cooler modules for cooling semiconductor chips or the like. In addition to heat pipes, a regular cooler module further comprises a heat sink formed of a stack of radiation fins, and a base block. The radiation fins are extruded from aluminum or copper. The heat pipes are enclosed metal tubes filled with a working fluid. The base block is an aluminum or copper block. Because the heat pipes and base block of this design of cooler module are made of different materials, a nickel plating technique is necessary so that the heat pipes and the base block can be bonded together by applying a tin solder or thermal glue. This cooler module fabrication and assembly procedure is complicated, resulting in low yield rate and high manufacturing cost. Soldering between the base block and the heat pipes relatively lowers the heat transfer efficiency of the cooler module. Further, soldering the heat pipes to the base block may cause an environmental pollution.
When in use, the base block (aluminum base block or copper base block) is disposed in contact with the hot side of the electronic chip to absorb heat energy from the electronic chip and to transfer absorbed heat energy to the heat pipes and then the heat sink for further dissipation. Because heat energy is indirectly transferred to the heat pipes and the heat sink, the heat dissipation efficiency of this design of cooler module is low.